It’s going to be messy. People will reject it. That’s a long process. It takes blood, sweat and tears.  All true, when you are beginning the journey to building a culture of generosity. Whether it’s in the family, work or church setting… generosity isn’t easy at all!

From birth, we were taught/cultured to take. We depend on “receiving” to live. This is the reason why it’s so hard to turn from being the receiver… to becoming a giver!

See the future, move the present

One of the foundational elements to building a culture of generosity is a compelling vision and the daily desire to reach it. As a pastor, do you see your members desiring to be part of God’s generous plan? God’s word says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”   – Proverbs 29:18

This sounds serious, doesn’t it? Well, vision is that important!  Your mind needs to see where you’re going, before it tells your body to get there. See your church members radically giving one of these days, pray, then work hard with God in developing people’s hearts, characters, and culture to see Him over and beyond their limitations.

We all have a radically generous God. It’s not impossible to be radically generous when God is the source!

Pastor, your members desire to be part of something bigger, they’d like to be an agent delivering God’s generosity to a world of needs. As a leader, Pastor, you have an opportunity to create/plant generosity seeds with God, the opportunity to nurture it, to give it a world view that that sees God’s hand, His good hands, streched hands that gives and gives and gives.

Vision matters. Vision works, because it is His plan… and God’s plans work. They always work and succeed:

• Your members want to give to things that are going to have real impact. People don’t want to give to the status quo. If you have a so-so vision you will have so-so giving. So open the possibilities with God.

• Surveys of the elderly have consistently shown that if they had their life over again, they would have given more, shared more than they have taken. This tells us is that mankind has a desire for significance. We want to know that our lives mattered and have contributed to making the world a better place. For Christians our greatest desire should be to advance God’s kingdom!

Pastor, your vision is not only critical to your members but to your staff as well. A vision that where generosity is so compelling, relevant and realistic. When people work to learn this culture, it is usually due to a passion to see the advancement of God’s kingdom. The vision of your church will motivate them to fulfil that passion.

I remember working for a large American stockbroking firm. Every morning when I arrive at work, as I exit the elevator, in front of me was a list of the company’s values and principles. There was only one problem: they never lived up to them. The same applies to your mission and vision. They need to be big enough for your staff to see that they are part of something bigger than just themselves, but not so big that they just scoff at it.

I use the word “realistic” cautiously as I believe your vision should be big enough that you can’t achieve it without God’s help (thus, arguably it is unrealistic in natural terms). Your vision should build an image in the mind of your members of the exciting future ahead and what you can accomplish together with the guidance and strength of the Lord’s hand.

Did you enjoy this post? Read more posts about generosity by clicking here.

We have a mini-course that teaches about generosity!  Click here to jump to the course page on “Generosity Express”

Our most popular webinar is free to CW readers! Thanks to the team of Wealth With Purpose!